The confrontation between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mitchell Starc got a lot of spotlight on day two of the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh at Darwin on Friday, but now things have cooled down between the two players.
The fiery incident unfolded in the 103rd over of the Bangladeshi innings after they had bowled the Aussies out for just 198 the day before. Miraz tapped away a Starc delivery towards point and set off straight away for a single. The left-armer Starc had just finished his follow-through, and Miraz had to change his direction on account of that but at the same time, he ran over the prohibited area. That got the Aussie fast bowler’s goat, and he didn’t take any time to blurt out: “This is my follow-through, not your follow-through. Get off the wicket.”
The fact that the Bangladeshis were in the ascendancy was probably what made Starc angrier. Anyway, all that is now a thing of the past. Both players have spoken about the incident. Miraz revealed this on Saturday after day three, and that Starc admitted being in the wrong too.
“There wasn’t much that happened yesterday. He just happened to come in front of me, and I didn’t notice him either. So I ended up running right down the middle of the pitch. But this can happen on a cricket field. This morning, he spoke to me regarding what happened yesterday and said, ‘It’s okay, even I was at fault. But it’s okay.’”
Tall order ahead for the home team!
All’s well that ends well. Anyway, Bangladesh continued to dominate the Test on the third day on Saturday. After taking a 228-run first innings lead, they had reduced the Aussies to 161/4 at the end of the day. The home team was still trailing by 67 runs. Cameron Green and Alex Carey were at the crease on 43 and 19 respectively, and on Sunday, they have a tall order ahead of them.
To make a match out of it, they at least need to set a target of 150 for the visitors, but in light of the fact that the next two batsmen are Beau Webster and Pat Cummins, things are not exactly looking up for the Aussies. Earlier at the end of day two, Webster said: “I’m sure everybody’s still looking at it, how later win this game of cricket. Obviously, we’ve got to get these last 4 wickets as cheaply as possible, and then, yeah, probably two really good days of batting, which is going to be hard work, no doubt, but yeah, like I said, the boys in the dressing room, you know, have full faith in their calibre to do it.”
